This is
Carmen Gray, of whom great things are expected. Thus they are signed to a major label.
Imagine
Led Zeppelin doing contemporary pop - good, hard edged tunes set to designer label riffola, underpinned by sweeping keyboard swells and synth strings.
The production sounds like it's had the gross domestic product of a small South American country spent on it. It's huge. It lifts each track and propels it, amped up and satisfyingly loud, rebounding through your speakers (or headphones, but best through speakers so you can feel it as well as hear it).
'Portrait.' is extremely well constructed. The arrangements mix and match acoustic guitars with cranked up electrics, loud percussive thumps and pizzicato strings. Occasionally stirring in white noise and measured feedback to keep it from sounding too calculated.
If that sounds cynical, it shouldn't.
Carmen Gray are a class act, it's maybe just that the music comes over as a bit remote, a little cold at times.
The album is front loaded with the more immediate material. And you have to say that '
Looking For Love', '
Lost In My Mind Again' and '
It's No Good Anymore' - all three big in guitars and towering choruses - are full blown tilts at the contemporary rock charts. And all three are clearly legitimate contenders.
Further on, the songs are slightly less accessible but have much more character. In many cases here - '
Pieces of My Broken Heart' or
'Lying With You' - they develop into memorable songs only after several spins. Hard won triumphs are the most rewarding.
The album closes with the epic, eight minute '
Grain Of Sand', an engaging, entertaining, complex rock song, full of glorious promise and ambitions beyond your standard rock music boundaries.
One to watch, without a doubt.
Written by
Brian Friday, March 2, 2007
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